Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Saturday 12 September 2015

passing rain, new academic year, windows 10 ups and downs, alan and charlotte




Some rain when I was cycling this morning but it soon passed. Quite warm and humid, though.

Oh what fun it is to play with the Blackberry editing app.

It was back to work mid-week, feeling refreshed. I started my holiday at the tail end of the old academic year and returned at the very start of the new one. Such a different atmosphere in Oxford both times. Such a different feeling psychologically too.

During the holiday I upgraded my laptop from Windows 8.1 to 10. Having a few compatibility issues - for example the only browser that seems to work with Blogger software is Firefox, although even it likes to put masses of extra spaces in between photos and text, which have to be removed manually. Again Firefox is the only browser that actually lets you attach things to emails in the university webmail client. Still, quite like Edge and Cortana - though when it (s/he?) asks what you would like 'me' to call you, that's a bit spooky!

A highlight of the holiday was having Alan and Charlotte over for a lovely lunch at the top of the garden. Alan was at school with Dad. Wonderful afternoon!

We were lucky with the South-of-France weather that day - waking up the next it was dark-grey-bleak. Very changeable just now.
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